Details emerge on house's contract role

Friday

Dec 7, 2012 at 12:01 AM

STOCKTON - The city's police union can't rent a home it owns next door to City Manager Bob Deis to any officers. Whoever lives there can't bother Deis and his family. By Nov. 1, 2015, the union has to sell it off.

Scott Smith

STOCKTON - The city's police union can't rent a home it owns next door to City Manager Bob Deis to any officers. Whoever lives there can't bother Deis and his family. By Nov. 1, 2015, the union has to sell it off.

These are the terms spelled out in the city's new contract with the Stockton Police Officers' Association. The tentative deal is expected to be made formal with a City Council vote Tuesday.

The contract resolves a long-running fight between the city and its police union, which has taken deep pay and benefit cuts as the city finances experienced a meltdown. Rules surrounding the union's rental house are but one small part of the contract.

"We were doing all of those things already," said Sgt. Kathryn Nance, president of the Stockton Police Officers' Association. "There's no change to what we were doing."

Language addressing the rental property is part of a deal settling lawsuits between the city and police union.

Police filed suit, arguing the city didn't have the right to impose pay and benefit cuts. The union bought the home in 2011, drawing a lawsuit from City Hall, accusing officers of negotiating in bad faith by trying to intimidate Deis.

The house is now up for rent because the occupant has decided to move, not because of city business, Nance said.

The meat of the 148-page contract addresses pay and compensation with the police union through June 30, 2014. It maintains longevity pay for officers, opens up a cheaper Kaiser medical plan and leaves in tact their retirement pensions.

Officers also agreed to drop their suit seeking $13 million in back pay imposed on them by the city to balance past budgets.

In exchange, the city offered each officer 44 hours of additional vacation time they can use over the next three years.

The officers were the last of the city's nine labor groups to strike a new contract since Stockton filed bankruptcy.

The officers were also the last group to be offered the Kaiser health care plan, which will save officers money if they choose it, Nance said.

Vice Mayor Kathy Miller said she was pleased that the police union and the city are once again on the same team, working toward what's best for Stockton. She said the union's rental house was part of "globally" settling the lawsuits, ending an ugly period for the city.

"It puts it all to bed, so to speak. I think all of us are glad it is done," Miller said. "I think they're probably just as relieved to have it done as we are. I don't think it was a time any of us enjoyed."